Renovated 1870's barn rustic, yet modern masterpiece

Published 12:00 am, Friday, March 31, 2006

So she bought a barn in New Fairfield across from Ball Pond. With the help of her husband, Tim, she painted it red, redid the entire inside from scratch and called it home for four years.

"We always wanted to do this. We wanted to live in a barn - the open space," said Connelly, sighing.

Then the couple sold the barn and moved into a Cape-Cod style house on Ball Pond and renovated that.

But Connelly's thirst for "country living" was far from quenched. So, she went in search of another barn. Last summer, Connelly found the barn of her dreams in Canada on the Internet.

The 1870s barn - all 4,700 square feet - came in pieces on a truck. Connelly, who works freelance in the publishing and marketing business, said the experience was traumatic to say the least.

"It looked rotted and really bad," Connelly said, but she was assured that once the frame was up it would be fine - and it was.

The barn now sits on a beautiful 5-acre piece of countryside just off Route 22 in Pawling, N.Y. The area, Brady Brook Falls, is part of Pawling's prestigious Quaker Hill. A short drive off the highway leads to a pine-tree lined road dotted with farmhouses. The area is home to miles of woodland trails on 100 acres of dedicated open space.

Once the frame was set on the idyllic property, Connelly wanted to make sure that the barn kept its rustic appeal. So, it was back to the computer. By doing extensive research, she found exterior barn siding, which now has a cypress-wood stain and enough barn siding to provide all the interior flooring.

Since the exterior looked a little plain for Connelly's taste, she had two hayloft doors affixed to the front. A real sliding barn door is to the right of the front door.

The results are breathtaking from the outside as well as the inside.

After stepping up from the first floor, with its blue stone foyer, cozy den, full bath with shower and bedroom, there is no doubt that you are in a barn.

This floor is Connelly's favorite for lots of reasons.

"The main floor being open - that open feeling," Connelly said. "It gives it that feeling of living in an old barn. It's huge, but it's cozy and you feel like you're inside American history."

The main floor resembles a Manhattan loft in that it's one giant room separated into three main areas: living room, kitchen and dining room. A split staircase in the back center of the room is lined with simple but modern black steel railings and double doors open to a deck.

The end exterior walls are barn sided, while the wider walls are dry walled. On the living room end, there is a brick fireplace. More than dozen oversized windows give the main floor lots of light.

"Too much wood would look too dark," said Connelly.

The whole process took about one year from start to finish.

"It was 24/7," said Connelly, who also has to spend her days watching 4-year-old son Christian. "There was never a minute I wasn't working on it. I was at the house five times a day. My blood, sweat and tears were put into this house - absolutely," Connelly said.

The building contractor who worked with Connelly from beginning to end was
Bernd Jackel
of New Fairfield. He was there when the old barn rolled in on the truck.

"I basically put the whole project together and did a lot of the finish work," said Jackel, who was pleased with the end results. He said the open floor plan of the house and the open meadow that it sits on really make it feel like a barn.

"I think it's very unique," said Jackel, who really likes the old hand-hewn beams in the main floor's living space. "There's a few spots where the farmer's sons signed their names in there."

He also appreciates the home's unique touches - like the concrete island in the kitchen.

"Concrete is making a big comeback in kitchens and baths," he said.

The kitchen, nestled in a corner of the main floor, is Connelly's favorite area.

Equipped with stainless steel, state-of-the-art appliances, like a Miele dishwasher, Viking 6-burner gas range, Viking wine cooler and warming drawer, the kitchen's focal point is definitely the 12 by 6-foot island with a concrete top.

"You can put something hot right on it," Connelly said. She chose concrete because of its indestructible properties and its clean, simple look.

"It looks rustic, it's unique," she said. The pantry doors are also a focal point as they are circa 1880s pine from a salvage warehouse in Vermont.

"These doors are amazing," said Connelly.

There are three bedrooms upstairs. Above the main floor, the third floor has a catwalk and two "lofts" - one with the master bedroom and bath, and the other with two bedrooms.

French doors with leaded glass open up to the master bedroom. The room, while not overwhelming in size, has dormered ceilings with wood beams and an inset antique window.

The master bathroom was designed with convenience in mind.

"It's modern," said Connelly, caressing what looked like a claw-footed tub. But the sleek tub, shaped in the old-fashioned way, is very deep, and instead of feet, is set on two wooden beams. The steam shower is tiled with stone that resembles lots of little pebbles.

Connelly said she loves "the master bathroom because of the steam shower."

"The most appealing part was keeping in step with the barn theme," said Natale-Contreras. "We took into account that it was a barn-house. It's a matter of just knowing it - learning from experience."

She said by avoiding a traditional pattern of fixtures, the bathrooms lend even more character to the home.

"Some of the fixtures are modern, some are traditional," Natale-Contreras she said. "She let us play around with more eclectic designs. It's better when you pull from different designs - it's a lot more fun and it's not boring."

There's something to be said for the little touches, which Connelly took painstaking measures to create just the look she wanted - a rustic barn with all the modern conveniences.

Other small touches include two antique sconces on a main floor beam and two carriage lights from a horse carriage in the entrance foyer. Outside antique lighting includes wrought iron and glass lantern lights above the front door and two above the back deck.

"It was so much work, just looking for the antique-looking lights outside, they're galvanized steel," she said.

But in some cases, Connelly thought things needed to be updated just a little to have a more universal appeal.

"I didn't want it too barn-ish. I didn't want too much wood," she said. "I modernized it a little, like with the steel railings, the stainless steel appliances, the concrete countertop and the stainless steel ceiling fan."

In the yard, Connelly decided the property needed a stone wall, which is typically how people divided farmland back in the day. So a stacked stone slab wall runs the entire length of the house in the back.

"It all came together," she said. But would she do it again? "Absolutely."

The house went on the market in October for $1.495 million with Houlihan Lawrence in Brewster, N.Y.

For more information on the house, call Realtor Elisabetta Berghold at (845) 279-6800 or visit
www.houlihanlawrence.com
.